BDT 640 Crore of Teachers’ Retirement Funds Stuck in Seven Private Banks Over High-Interest Gamble

Thousands of retired non-government teachers across Bangladesh are facing severe financial distress and harassment at the twilight of their lives as nearly BDT 640 crore of their retirement and welfare funds remains trapped in seven private banks. The crisis, sparked by high-yield greed and aggressive profit-sharing schemes by past officials, has left the Ministry of Education struggling to recover the massive funds, forcing many retired educators into human conditions.

While funds kept in state-owned Sonali Bank and Janata Bank remain completely secure, the trapped capital in looted private institutions has brought disbursements to a grinding halt.

A Breakdown of the Trapped Funds

According to Ministry of Education data, the total accumulation under the Non-Government Educational Institution Teachers and Employees Retirement Benefit Board stands at BDT 1,082 crore, alongside BDT 350 crore under the Welfare Trust, totaling nearly BDT 1,450 crore.

Out of this layout, exactly BDT 639,60,61,725 is split across Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDR) and Short Term Deposits (STD) in seven private commercial banks, with the largest single share—exceeding BDT 200 crore—stuck at First Security Islami Bank. The remaining BDT 800 crore is securely held by the state-owned Sonali and Janata banks, which face no liquidity or withdrawal issues.

The seven private financial institutions holding the teachers' hard-earned money are First Security Islami Bank, Citizens Bank, Global Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL), Bangladesh Commerce Bank, Union Bank, and EXIM Bank.

The Anatomy of the Institutional Fraud

Investigations indicate a severe violation of the Non-Government Educational Institution Teachers and Employees Retirement Benefit Act, 2002, and its 2005 regulations, which explicitly mandate that all retirement funds must be maintained solely within state-owned banks.

Instead, a coordinated syndicate consisting of the Retirement Benefit Board's former Secretary Principal Sharif Ahmad, Programmer Jamal Hossain, and software vendors Golam Sarwar and Mofazzal Moudud Elahi intentionally diverted the funds into weak private commercial banks to harvest extra profits and under-the-table commissions.

Principal Sharif Ahmad, who controlled the board for eight and a half years, systematically awarded core operational contracts to "Green Bee," a software firm owned by his nephew Mofazzal Moudud Elahi, to facilitate the massive misappropriation. Following the political transitions after August 5, Principal Sharif went into hiding, while Programmer Jamal Hossain has been placed under temporary suspension.

Ministry officials speaking to The Daily Campus on the condition of anonymity confirmed that the previous regime intentionally parked these massive trust funds into Awami League-aligned banks. Today, these hollowed-out banks are unwilling or unable to process multiple withdrawal applications simultaneously, drastically delaying disbursements.

Extreme Backlogs and Tragic Casualties

The procedural bottlenecks have created an alarming backlog. Despite clear High Court directives ordering the release of retirement benefits within six months of an educator's retirement, thousands of applications remain unresolved.

Tragically, many teachers are passing away before ever receiving their rightful dues. Among them was Md. Sirajul Haque, an office assistant from Taltala Adarsha Secondary School in Satkhira, who retired on May 1, 2024, and died in extreme poverty without receiving a single penny of his pension.

As of May 24, a staggering 44,966 applications from retired teachers and employees remain completely stuck and unresolvable due to the liquid cash crunch.

State Response and Strategic Rescue Plans

The interim administration has initiated high-level interventions to salvage the trapped capital and provide immediate relief to the affected educators. This crisis follows an earlier exposé by the former Education Advisor of the interim government, Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud, who revealed during an NEC meeting on March 3, 2025, that between BDT 7,000 to BDT 8,000 crore of MPO teachers' pensions had been completely looted under the previous regime.

To manage the current crisis, the Ministry of Education has formulated an emergency disbursal strategy. Abdul Khalek, Secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division and Chairman of the Retirement Benefit Board, assured The Daily Campus that the state will take strict measures to claw back the trapped money.

"We have already constituted a specialized committee dedicated entirely to the release of the teachers' retirement and welfare trust funds. This committee is actively working on the matter. Although several of these private banks have been completely looted, making recovery difficult, the government is committed to recovering every taka of our teachers' hard-earned money."

— Dr. A.N.M. Ehsanul Hoque Milon, Minister for Education

Under the ministry's new contingency plan, an initial proposal has been moved to release partial payments of BDT 5 lakh each to approximately 8,000 retired teachers. Thus far, verification has been completed for 3,100 beneficiaries under the retirement board, while the welfare board is preparing data for an additional 3,500 beneficiaries to ensure a phased, transparent rollout of emergency cash directly to the suffering families.